Antique Dolls

This last article in the doll series of posts is a quick primer on antique dolls.  Most of the dolls that little American girls played with in the late 19th century and early 20th century were made in France and Germany.  The first dolls from these countries had china and bisque heads and cloth bodies. (even though china and bisque are both porcelain, collectors call shiny, glazed dolls china and the unglazed porcelain dolls are called bisque.  Porcelain usually refers to contemporary dolls.)

China Doll

China Doll

Bisque Doll

German Bisque Doll

These dolls had pretty faces but the cloth bodies were not very realistic.  In the early 1850's, doll makers in Sonneberg, Germany mixed glue and sawdust to form moldable, paintable dolls.  They called this new concoction "composition".  The first composition dolls typically had a cloth torso and upper limbs with composition heads, hands and feet.  Eventually, entire dolls were made of composition resulting in much more realistic forms.  Soon, doll makers all used composition; it was inexpensive, easy to work with and it was more durable than bisque, which cracked easily.  Composition dolls survive today and can be easily identified by their crazing.  In the 1940's, composition gave way to plastic. 

Composition Doll

To help you identify genuine antique dolls, here are some of the marks you may see on these dolls. This page is a great resource for researching marks: Identifying Antique Doll Marks 

We also have a Pinterest board for antique dolls.  There are some pins with links to articles if you're interested.

Vintage and Antique Toys

Over the years we have run across some amazing vintage and antique toys...things like this spaceship by KO, made in Japan. 
The paint was in great shape and it still worked! 

This Texaco truck was huge and had great decals and paint. 

And these composition dolls that were well loved, Tinker Toys, marbles and paper dolls were all in one collection!  

These are all great examples of vintage and antique toys that have appeal to collectors and to us baby boomers who remember simple toys like these.  We love finding stuff like this, it's fun to look at, fun to display and to sell.  

On a side note, these kinds of toys are not in the same category as Beanie Babies, Madame Alexander Dolls, and some Barbies and Disney toys.  Generally, the Beanie Babies, etc. have been produced to sell as a "collectible" first and a toy second.  The manufacturers make hundreds of thousands of them, package then beautifully, and sell them at a premium price.  Many come with certificates of authenticity and have very official looking pedigrees.  They are absolutely a treasure to the person who buys them and loves them for what they are...but they are not a treasure that usually increases in value* with age or because of their "official" status.  Whereas toys from back in the day that were well preserved usually do increase in value due to rarity and/or condition.  I hope this  clarifies the subject somewhat, the question usually comes up every couple of years.  

*As a general rule.  However, there are always exceptions to every rule and some collectible dolls and Beanie Babies are very valuable.  An experienced estate liquidator is more important than ever when things like this are part of the estate being sold.